Over at MIT, a manifesto of sorts proclaiming the end of the physical distribution of media in the wake of coming (and in many ways, already here) e-distribution models was published this week. Delving into photonics, (roughly speaking, using light to transmit information) which promises to eliminate latency in data transmission, ubiquitously accesible content via the internet would remove the need for the retail space to sell entertainment products such as DVDs, music, and video games. VOD is bound to replace TV too, a prospect many in the TV industry are unhappy about. Read the MIT "prophesy".

Read about trepidacious TV affiliates (Re: iPod Video, iTunes 6)

The Philoneist Says: People will always want to tune into a pre-determined content schedule (ad-supported or not), but I think most in the mainstream who are not already consumers of digital media via e-distribution will also leap at the opportunity to moonlight as a disk jockey, TV program coordinator, or movie theater operator with the totality of human content at their fingertips for instant consumption. But...

The Misoneist Says: Can tech based jobs replace the number of retail jobs bound to be lost in the future because of e-distribution's capacity to make physical media (and thus their vendors) irrelevant?